Vietnam War (VSC) and against British fascism in the late 1970s -the Anti-Nazi League. On the other hand, we should recall, in the miners' strike it took the SWP some 6 months to agree to participate in the massive network of miners" support groups. On this occasion loo it has taken sustained pressure for the SWP to eventually come in to the Campaign Against War in the Gulf.
At the other end of the political spectrum, a united campaign has been blocked by those forces that reject an anti-imperialist political line. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) has always been tom apart by dis putes between those that wish lo 'oppose war' in an abstract sense: and those that wish to point politically to where the blame lies.
The factional manoeuvring within CND over the last period -and in particular the 'Now you see him, now you don't' antics of Bruce Kent - are ample testimony to this. The apolitical attitude of the Green Party also reflects their Jack of any understanding of imperialism.
Clearly then, it is vital that the left continues to build the Campaign Against War in the Gulf, which is organised on an anti-imperialist political platform, and functions in a democratic manner. While it was correct to attempt to achieve unity with the CND based Committee to Stop the War (CSW) - and to be prepared to make certain compromises to do so - it quickly became clear that this was not possible.
The argument with the CSW was over the issue of democracy, not demands, If it had been possible for anti-imperialists to fight their comer in an open, democratic forum, a united campaign would have been possible. The variant that has finally resulted - a single demonstration, on September 15, with a distinct anti-imperialist contingent - is. however, something that the entire left and peace movements should be able to support.
Socialists should make every effort to participate in and build the CAWG, forming local groups with campaigning activity, public meetings and anti-war publicity. Organising further action against imperialism's war plans is a vital task.
UPDATE
"There was a war on' said MP Dennis Skinner last July in defence of miner's union President Arthur Scargill and General Secretary Peter Heathfield; this explains the central issues involved in the present witch-hunt of the leadership team of the Great Miners strike of 1984-5.
The famous 'Class War' headline that appeared miners" newspaper during the strike made explicit the reality of perhaps the longest and certainly one of the most bitter battles between capital and labour seen in Britain since the Industrial Revolution.
The lies and slanders of Maxwell's Daily Mirror campaign about "mis-appropration" and 'mis-handling' of money meant for striking miners and their communities should have long since been buried.
The Lightman report made it clear that neither Scargill or Heathfield pocketed a penny. and that loans for house buying. which took place before and after the strike, were above board and repaid in full.
Those who continue to snipe about "undemocratic" and "unaccountable' handling of funds seem to forget that at the end of 1984 agents of the British state were running around the world's finance centres trying to trace any NUM funds; that the union was completely sequestered from November, and that there were at least those right-wing members of the NUM executive who would have immediately passed on information to the Coal Board and the government if it had been brought before the executive committee.
What rank and file miners wanted, and got, was continued representation during the strike, and the continued existence of the NUM.
However the smear campaign continues, especially concerning the allegations of receiving money from Libya and the alleged "mis-use" of money from Soviet miners.
The target here is not just Scargill and the NUM but the Intemational Miner's Organisation
(IMO).
Scargill's line in practice during the strike was to get money from any source - even the devil himself - to sustain the fight. This is absolutely right. The truth about how much of our - the taxpayers" - money was expropriated by the Tories to finance their union-busting operation will probably never be known. £7 billion is almost certainly a minimum.
The truth about the money from Soviet miners is that an original payment was made into an NUM account in Switzerland, but was then mysteriously retumed. No money was then paid into any account over which Scargill or Heathfield had any control until after the strike was over, and then only into the IMO funds, for use by miners intemationally.
There is a political link in the emergence of the Gorbachev leadership in the Kremlin, which has set out to improve its relations with westem govemments at the expense of betraying working class struggles. Now the East German, Bulgarian, Czech and Soviet miners's unions are all reported to want to leave the IMO and join the smaller westem -i.e. pro-capitalist orientated Miners" International Federation (MIF).
The alliance between the bureaucratic apparatus of the unions in the imperialist countries and its counterparts in the Stalinist regimes is clear.
Their common aim is to isolate and smash the only trade union international with a leadership independent of ties either to the multi-national mining and oil conglomerates in the west, or to the union 'nomenklaturas' of the east which continue to faithfully implement the state policy of Gorbachev's regime.
Gorbachev's aim is to open up the fabulous mineral wealth of Siberia to the very same mining and oil conglomerates that already enjoy the collaboration of the MIF bureaucracy.
Neither group wants a miners" international like the
IMO, which has grown - by supporting miners* industrial action in places like Morocco,
Namibia, Chile, and the Philippines - to a total of 43 affiliates and 6.5 million members. In contrast the MIF - controlled by the West German and US union - only has around 2 mil lion members.
The NUM remains politicalJohn Harris (NUU) ly very strong. With the world tottering on the edge of a war over energy resources, coal mined here still provides 80 per cent of energy resources for power generation.
Scargill and Heathfield are now on the counter-attack, as the best means of defending the union. It is fitting that the Women Against Pit Closures organisation is the body to publish the rebutt of the Lightman report vand be the sponsor of the 30 or so coalfield meetings being held to rally the NUM membership and their communities.
With this initiative and the backing of the overwhelming majority of the activists represented in the Yorkshire, NorthEast, Midlands and Nottinghamshire area councils, Scargill and Heathfield are fighting to rebuild the fighting strength of the union.
Defending the class struggle tradition represented by Scargill and the NUM in the unions must be part of any fightback today. That's why Socialist Outlook and its readers welcome and support the Defend Scargill - Defend the NUM' campaign being sponsored by Socialist Worker and urge labour movement bodies to lend support.
Pat Sikorski